1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to architectural renderings, and in particular, to a method, apparatus, and article of manufacture for substituting ancillary elements in an architectural rendering.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the architectural, engineering, and construction (AEC) fields, computer aided design (CAD) drawings are often used to design blueprints, drawings, plans, etc. However, such CAD drawings may be complex, confusing, and fail to provide an end-user (e.g., a potential client) with a drawing or visualization of the “intent” of the architect or designer. Architectural renderings are designed to illustrate the “intent” of the designer or architect, as opposed to showing precise fidelity. Accordingly, architectural illustrators may create renderings of proposed sites and structures by interpreting architectural drawings—typically plans and elevations. To make these illustrations appear realistic, ancillary elements/objects, such as people, trees and vehicles are often added to the drawings. Some of these elements may appear in the building plans (e.g., landscaping elements), while others will not appear in the building plans.
In the prior art, once the objects (trees, people, cars) are in an illustration, changing one or more objects is time consuming. For example, if the designer wants to change one type of tree for another, existing trees must be deleted from the illustration, and replaced by others. Moreover, if changes are made to the base plan or elevations used in the illustration, the ancillary elements must be copied from an old drawing and pasted into the new one, or recreated. Accordingly, the prior art lacks the capability to efficiently substitute graphical elements in an architectural rendering.